1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an embossed carrier tape and an embossed carrier taping method, and particularly to a structure for protecting an embossed carrier tape used for holding and packaging small-sized electronic devices such as a semiconductor device, a capacitor, a resistor, etc. and an embossed carrier taping method.
2. Description of the Related Art
An embossed carrier tape is generally used to hold and package small-sized electronic devices such as a semiconductor device, a capacitor, a resistor, etc. The embossed carrier tape having the small-sized electronic devices held and packaged therein is subjected to taping so as to fall into a state of being successively wound around a tape reel to facilitate storage and transportation thereof. With advances in thinning of a package for electronic devices, the treatment thereof requires circumspection increasingly in recent years.
However, a conventional embossed carrier tape structure has a possibility that when an embossed carrier tape is wound around a tape reel in roll form, the lower surface of one device hole is brought into contact with the upper surface of the other device hole, whereby the device holes will cause deformation such as crushing or the like. The deformation of the device holes raises the possibility of causing inconvenience such as breakage and deformation of the electronic devices held in the device holes, bends in lead or an inability to take out the electronic devices from the device holes upon their unpackaging in a subsequent process, etc. Such inconvenience shows a tendency to become increasingly pronounced as the electronic devices become thin.